India - A Brahmin lady with distinctive nose piercings. Brahmin is the class of educators, law makers, scholars and preachers of Dharma in Hinduism, occupying the highest position among the four varnas of India. The outside of the left nostril is the preferred position of nasal piercing in India, as this is supposed to make childbirth easier (as Ayurvedic medicine associates this location with the female reproductive organs). In India piercings were regarded as a mark of beauty and social standing in addition to a Hindu's honour to Parvathi (the Goddess of marriage) from the 16th century.